Displays built from mechanical light modulators are an attractive alternative to displays based on liquid crystal technology. Mechanical light modulators are fast enough to display video content with good viewing angles and with a wide range of color and grey scale. Mechanical light modulators have been successful in projection display applications.
Besides projection-type applications, conventional displays are generally grouped into transmissive-type applications, reflective-type applications, and transflective-type applications. The transmissive-type display includes a lighting element, usually called a backlight, at a back surface of the display for transmitting light towards a viewer. Backlights consume a relatively large amount of power. On the other hand, the reflective-type display includes a reflector for reflecting ambient light towards a viewer. This does not require a backlight, and therefore reduces the amount of required power. However, in conventional reflective-type displays, the reflection of ambient light generally cannot produce a satisfactory contrast ratio (“CR”) or brightness in some lighting situations.
However, with the recent development of portable apparatus, there is a significant increase in demand for power-saving display devices. Reflective, transmissive and transflective displays using mechanical light modulators have not yet demonstrated sufficiently attractive combinations of speed, brightness, and low power. There is a need in the art for fast, bright, low-powered, mechanically actuated reflective, transmissive, and transflective displays.